One Semester
by ShizzySavage16
Summary: There was just something special about sitting next to Jeremy Jones that made her feel so tingly and warm inside, even if it was for less than an hour. She had no business with delinquent’s such as him, but there was something so attractive about him that she found herself falling for... and it wasn’t just his striking looks either.
1. Day 1

**_Day 1_**

He was running late. He insisted to his older brother to stay in bed for just _5_ more minutes.

What a load of crap.

That 5 minutes turned into a whole 2 hours thanks to the reliability of his brothers! And he didn't even know the first day of classes were today! When his brothers mentioned it to him, he assumed they were lying, because they _loved_ joking around with him - the youngest brother in the family.

 _But the jokes were on him._

 _The first day of school was today._

 _What kind of school had the first day of classes on a Friday?_

 _Preposterous!_

As he bolted through the entrance doors, the hallways were empty, and classes were in session.

 _"Crap, I can't be that late."_

Wrong.

 _He was 10 minutes late, and 10 minutes was a lot to the teachers of Sturmore High... or what he liked to call it as 'Study More' High._

The curriculum at this school has been crazy difficult for the past 2 grades he's barely completed. He was wondering how he could manage to complete this grade without failing at least 2 courses.

The boy sighed to himself, and kicked a nearby locker with irritation.

 _"Fuck!"_ He huffed out, _"... If_ _I'm already late, may as well take my time."_ He told himself, spotting a washroom to his left. He entered it and went straight for the mirror; checking himself out for any undesirables on his face.

He did have a tiny sign of eyebags underneath his eye, but his face was naturally smooth, so it wasn't noticeable at a first glance.

 _"Ahh man, you're looking clean, Jeremy..."_ the boy shot his reflection a smile, giving it a wink as well, _"Oh Mother, oh mother that is one bad guy."_ He adjusted the hat on top of his head, making sure to show the little swipes of his brown hair.

He sported a plain look for today; a tight red t-shirt with dark brown joggers that hugged onto his waist. It felt comfortable for him to wear, and he'd need a lot of it for today.

The first day of classes was always a struggle for people like Jeremy. He didn't know why summer break couldn't just go on for _2 more months. What was the harm of it anyways?_

A couple months missed off of school?

 _Who cares?!_

Certainly not Jeremy Jones.

After checking himself in the mirror and stalling for 5 minutes, he decided that now was the time to make way for his class. With a disgruntled sigh, he left the washroom and muttered something to himself; a statement that he truly believed in.

 _"Same shit. Just a different day."_

 ** _x_**

Jeremy kept on alternating stares with his timetable and the numbers that were placed above the classroom entrances.

 _"Room 127... room 129,"_ he looked down at his timetable, spotting the number '111' near the top. All this time he's been heading the wrong way. He chuckled at himself and turned around, going towards said room number.

 _"Room 115... room 113... room 111..."_

He stopped in his steps and peeked inside the room through the little glass pane. All of the students were seated, and the teacher was holding a yellow sheet in his hands.

Jeremy took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

 ** _x_**

Jeremy walked inside the class, feeling the stare of almost _every_ student inside - including the teacher's.

 _"And who do we have here, who just walked in late?"_ The teacher asked, an exquisite foreign accent accompanying his voice.

Jeremy gave out a deep sigh as he looked over the classroom.

 _"Name's Jeremy, you shmuck."_ He muttered in response.

It was clear that he did not want to be here. If it was a quick suspension he was looking for, he'd just have to keep saying things like those and he'd be well on his way to home.

 _But this teacher knew him._

A few gasps came out of the silent classmates, which revolved around the room quietly. Like a lot of things in life, Jeremy didn't pay any mind to it, and instead scouted over the room to find a suitable seat - _preferably in the back._

 _"Ah, yes. I knew that as soon as I saw your face, Monsieur Jones."_

Jeremy suddenly stopped scanning the room, and turned his attention towards the teacher.

Thankfully, Jeremy had sharp vision.

He narrowed his eyes at the man; Slicked back hair that was greying at the tips, but still remained a healthy jet of black at the roots. Sharp features, casual blue eyes, a 5 o'clock shadow adorning his jaw... _his face was unmistakeable._

 _"Ess?_ _Mister Ess?!"_ He asked, in disbelief, "Ain't this an 'English' class?! What're you doing here?"

"The name is 'Espion', Jeremy _Jones._ Learn to pronounce it correctly and you may find your English at a considerably higher level than what it is currently... and you also seem to forget that I have exceeded the qualifications for teaching 'English' at the facility of Sturmore... _mèrde, what summer break does to your young mind is questionable."_

The student rolled his eyes at him, groaning to himself.

"But you have caused enough of a distraction, Monsieur Jones. Please, take a seat."

Jeremy spotted an empty seat in the back corner of the classroom, and was about to make his way towards it... until the teacher told him otherwise.

Mister Espion cleared his throat, _"Ahem. I see that the student is making way for the seat that is furthest from the teacher's desk."_

All the eyes in the classroom were directed at Jeremy.

The student turned around to face him, _"So?"_

 _"... you will not be sitting there."_

 _"What the-? Why?"_ Jeremy caught glimpse of an empty seat that was right beside another student, a girl specifically; all the way in the front, and the _closest_ desk to the teacher's.

"Because, I am very aware of your tendency to drift away and remain unfocused on many lessons." Mister Espion answered, "Remember the 'solution' I proposed last year, Jeremy?"

"Yeah. I do, but don't remind me of it cause it didn't do any-"

 _"But it did."_ He interrupted, _"Your grades made a big leap - from the thirties to the sixties, specifically. Magnefique performance, and I intend to do so again, so if you may come to the front and remain seated at the seat which I am pointing at, then the words will come to fruition."_

Mister Espion pointed at the seat that Jeremy had _just_ stared at.

Jeremy, finding no use in arguing with such a persistent teacher, followed without a question. But he did so with a severe lack of enthusiasm. He hated sitting in the front, and he _hated_ being so close to the teacher's desk.

These factors greatly denied any chance of him _not_ paying attention to the lessons, and almost always interrupted the small naps he would take.

As Jeremy made his way to his assigned seat, he looked around for anyone that he knew from the previous grades. After doing a quick roundabout of the class with his eyes, he came to the conclusion that none of these students looked familiar to him.

It wasn't a surprise though.

Jeremy, as recommended by his _very_ patient counsellor, was put in the essential courses of lower levels which reached to a total of 3.

Mathematics, Religion and History.

He was put in the _lowest_ levels of said courses, and lower levels tended to have people equivalent to Jeremy. The only course he's had that was on _average_ level was English - which his counsellor urged him to take because he found it easy for the past 2 grades.

So Jeremy did, and now he's here - in an average level English class.

It wasn't a surprise that he didn't recognize any students in this class; _these people weren't delinquents._

 _These were your average students; the type that Jeremy wasn't accustomed to._

He was quite disappointed to find that he had no one to talk to on his first day in class, but he decided that was what the 40 minute Lunch breaks were for.

He finally reached the empty seat and dropped his duffel bag onto the floor, sitting onto the chair with a bored look on his face.

Mister Espion loomed over Jeremy's desk, placing his slim-gloved hands on the fine wooden surface.

The student looked up at the teacher, a confused grin coming over his face, _"What am I doing?"_

 _"Petite garçon,_ wipe the grin off your face and understand that you haven't even made the effort to pull out the essential tools of _knowledge."_ Mister Espion said.

Jeremy cocked a brow at his dialect, _"What's that even mean, man?"_ He asked, already annoyed.

Mister Espion stood straight and looked over the room, "... Class? Would someone mind answering this student's question?"

A student, 2 rows behind Jeremy raised a hand.

"You. The boy beside Monsieur Mundy."

The boy in question gave him an answer, "It means that he's gotta have his pencil and his notebook ready - laid out on the desk, sir."

"Correct!" Mister Espion exclaimed. He looked down at Jeremy, _"You have heard the man. Get on it."_

Jeremy sighed and reached down inside of his duffel bag, scrounging around until his hands touched upon his black notebook. He pulled it out and tossed it on his desk, opening it with a glum flick of a finger.

Mister Espion cleared his throat, _"Jeremy? Where is your pencil, if I may ask?"_

"Forgot it." The student answered back.

As soon as he said those words, the girl beside him quickly reached into her backpack.

Mister Espion put a palm to his face, _"Ugh, mèrde."_ He took the hand off his face and looked over the class once again, "Does anyone have a pencil that this student can-"

 _"I got one."_ A girl interrupted, her voice so quiet that many other classmates didn't hear her.

Jeremy looked towards the female student, a surprised look coming across his face when he saw _2_ pencils in her hand as well. Her hand that held the pencils were extended towards him, a shy smile coming across her face when he nodded at her.

Jeremy took the pencils that the student was offering, _"Thanks."_ He told her, giving her a small smile with sincere eye contact.

The girl gave a small smile in return, but was unable to meet his eyes, _"You're welcome."_ She responded quietly.

Jeremy raised a brow at her obvious shyness, but paid no mind to it... _for now._

Mister Espion observed the transaction with a smile, and thanked the female student right after.

He nodded at her, "Thank you, Madam." He then looked at Jeremy, "The polite woman has given you pencils to borrow, Jeremy. But do not think of it as an excuse to not bring ones of your own. Bring a pencil tomorrow. Understood?"

The student nodded, _"Sure."_

"Excellent, and before we continue," Mister Espion pointed at Jeremy's hat, _"take the hat off. It's been a simple rule to follow since your freshman year, Jeremy. I expected you to take action upon it by now."_

"Fine, fine, keep ya pants on, I'm doing it." Jeremy removed the hat off his head, placing it on his duffel bag.

 _"Same hair from freshman year as well?"_ Mister Espion noticed; short thick brown hair that was parted to the right, giving him a fairly modest look for a boy.

"Yeah. And I ain't ever gonna grow it out cause it'd look like a hippies cut, know what I'm saying?"

"Loud and clear." Mister Espion walked behind the teacher's desk and picked up a clipboard with a yellow sheet clipped onto it.

"Alphabetical attendance may now be commenced properly," he cleared his throat and began calling the names on the sheet, beginning with the first student on the list, _"Allan?"_

The student in question raised a hand, "Here."

 _"Leon?"_

"Here."

"Dell..." Mister Espion's eyes furrowed at the name, _"Dell Conagher?"_

"Yeah. That's me right here." The student pointed at himself. It was the very student that indirectly answered Jeremy's question earlier.

 _"Hmm... y_ _our father and I were classmates once. A very brilliant mind, that man."_ Mister Espion complimented.

"Well, I'll be sure to tell 'em, sir." Dell said.

There was something about the boy's tone that made Jeremy want to laugh. His deep southern tone reminded Jeremy of this movie that revolved around a cowboy with a snake in his boot...

 _He almost chuckled at the memory, but willed it away for another moment._

Mister Espion cleared his throat and continued down the list, continuing to call out names.

Jeremy, with every class that he had, only kept an ear open for when his name would be called out, and this class was no exception from his yearly routine.

 ** _x_**

Mister Espion called out another student's name, _"... Jeremy Jones?"_

The student in question raised his hand, _"Here, but I don't wanna be."_

The teacher nodded and continued down the list, _"Then perhaps you may find yourself more suitable seated in the hallways?"_

"How about sending me home instead cause I don't wanna be _'here',_ as in, _the whole school."_ Jeremy told him, gesturing at his surroundings.

 _"Later. But not on the first day, petite garçon..."_

Jeremy rolled his eyes, and when he looked around, he happened to notice a small smile that was on the female student's face. It was clear that she was unknown of the fact that he caught her in the act, but he decided to ignore it.

 _"Heiler Ludwig?"_ Mister Espion called out.

"Hier, Herr Espion." The foreign student responded.

 _"Let us refrain from using foreign languages whenever possible, Mister Ludwig... Misha?"_ He called out.

"Misha is here. Mikhail is last name, good teacher sir." A thick Russian accent responded.

 _"Yes, yes, it appears to show on the list..."_ Mister Espion looked at the list, calling out the next student's name.

"Mundee Mundy?" Mister Espion called out.

Jeremy found himself wanting to laugh at this name as well. How rare was it to have a full name that was pronounced the same as the first and the last? Jeremy found it quite rare, and _funny_ as well.

A student raised his hand, _"Here."_

Mister Espion nodded, "A fine day to you, past student of mine."

He called out the next name.

 _"Len_ _a Oxton?"_

The girl beside Jeremy raised her hand, "Here, sir."

 _Jeremy found himself paying attention to the girl's name._

"Ah, La Femme." Mister Espion realized, "Again, I thank you Madam Oxton for lending la garçon a pencil. I must let you know that kindness is valued, and will continue to remain valued for as long as decency roams the earth." He said.

Another small smile came across her face, _"Much appreciated, sir."_

Jeremy, after putting aside the information of the girl's name inside his head, stared around the classroom until the teacher would decide to start his lesson.

 ** _x_**

"... and with everyone's name called out, we have reached the end of our list, and have started the beginning of introductions, and most importantly - lessons, delivered in the form of assignments." Mister Espion said.

Jeremy started paying attention, despite him not wanting to.

"For today's assignment - a simple one, yet important. Introductions. I want to know you all a little better, so I will be handing you a sheet, a sheet on which you must summarize yourself. Feel welcome to write anything significant about yourself onto the lines provided. This applies to everyone excluding Jeremy, because I am still uncertain whether he knows _where_ the lines are." Mister Espion mentioned.

"Are ya serious, Ess? I know where to write. I ain't stupid, ya shmuck." Jeremy shot back.

"Good. I hope your actions prove more valuable than words." Mister Espion took a stack of sheets in his hands, sliding two onto the connected desk of Jeremy and Lena.

He continued to do so with every desk until the last sheet.

"Answer the questions that are provided on the sheet, then feel free to hand it onto my desk once the tasks have been completed," Mister Espion looked at the clock, "... it is currently thirty minutes until nine, so let us see the results ten minutes before class ends. You may mingle and chat with peers, but do make sure to complete the task before deciding to do so," he cleared his throat and sat behind his desk, _"Shall we?"_

 ** _xoxoxo_**

Jeremy stared at the sheet in front of him with a rather lazy look, with no intentions of answering the straightforward questions.

 _'Write a minimum of two well-structured paragraphs about yourself.'_ The first task read.

Jeremy was already bored. Some people were chatting away, and some people weren't. Everywhere he looked there were people doing work, or at least had their pencil pointed at the paper, pretending to do work.

Speaking about pencils, he stared at the ones the lady lended to him. Holding the pencils in one hand and leaning on the other, he began to examine both, quickly how _distinct_ the colours were.

 _Blue... a very bright blue._

And the other was a lively orange - almost _sparkling_ in appearance.

 _"You got some cool pencils, Lena."_ Jeremy muttered, loud enough so that she could hear him.

The young lady stopped writing and gave him her attention.

 _"You like it?"_ She asked.

He nodded, "'Course. Wish I could keep it, but Mister Fancy Pants told me to bring my own one tomorrow, which means that I'd have three pencils, and when I have a lotta stuff on me, I always end up losing at least one..." he smiled at the orange pencil, _"And I wouldn't wanna lose a cool pencil like this... that would suck."_

"Don't worry, I have many spares... but, three pencil's not that much." Lena responded.

He raised his brow, _"Really? Then what is?"_ He asked.

"64." She answered.

 _She wasn't lying. That was a lot._

Jeremy found the conversation interesting and decided to give full attention towards the lady he was speaking with, looking straight at her eyes.

 _"But who keeps 64 pencils on 'em?"_ He asked, "I ain't eva' heard of that."

"Well, uhm..." she twirled a tip of her short hair, another shy smile coming across her face, "m-my Dad, my Mum, and I... we umm, _heh_ , _don't laugh_ \- but we always keep a pack of 64 pencils or pens nearby." She answered.

He smiled at her, "I ain't gonna laugh, but I gotta ask why; That's a lotta' pencils... like, _a lot_ of pencils." He emphasized.

"Ehh... it's just in case we lose one, so we don't have to go bonkers over finding a spare, right?" She told him, _"For example... haven't you ever wished that you had sixty pencils whenever one mysteriously vanished?"_

She gave him an awkward smile, twirling the tip of her hair again.

Jeremy didn't know how to answer that.

 _"... uh, I, uh..."_ he shrugged uncertainly, "I... _guess. Yeah."_

 _"Oh."_ Her smile disappeared, "You don't sound very certain about it." She said, a slightly bummed tone accompanying her voice.

"Yeah. That's true." He admitted.

"Umm... maybe I can change that? Possibly?" She proposed.

"Keeping more than two pencils on me?" He asked, "Cause if that's what you're trying to change, then I don't think it's gonna do much." He told her.

"My Mum always told me that it's good to try something new, so... _why not?"_ She told him.

 _"... you're right. Fine."_ He agreed, "My Ma told me that too, by the way. Small world, huh?"

"It is a small world until you're 18'000 feet above the ground." She blurted out.

 _"What?"_

 _"Nothing."_ She let out a small cough and cleared her throat, biting her lips as she glanced _everywhere_ but Jeremy's face.

Jeremy didn't catch on to her odd antics, as he was too busy examining the unique-coloured pencils in his hand, "So, I can keep the pencils you gave me, and I have to try to see if I can keep them with me for about...?"

"... how does a whole semester sound?" She proposed.

Jeremy raised his hands slightly, _"Woah, woah, woah-! Hold on. That's tough."_ He said.

Lena objected, "Not really. If you manage to stay just a _teensy_ bit organized, then-"

Her sentence was cut short by the teacher.

 _"Ahem. Madam Lena?"_ Mister Espion called out.

Jeremy looked on as Lena turned towards the teacher.

"It is good to see classmates conversing with one another, but please try to refrain from too much of it, especially when work remains incomplete." Mister Espion said.

"Right, s-sorry, sir." She stuttered, quickly going back to her work.

 _Jeremy felt bad for seeing Lena get the blunt of th_ _e blame. He felt even worse when he saw the look on her face... an expression he couldn't quite describe, but it was an expression that urged him to do something about it._

He stood up for her.

"Aw, c'mon, Ess. We both know it wasn't Lena's fault for talking too much. It's my fault. Me and my loudmouth." He told him, _"So Mister Ess, you can tell Lena to take her apology back cause I'll be giving you one instead - I'm sorry."_

Lena look surprised at the fact that Jeremy was standing up for her, and even if she was still doing her work, she kept her ears open for the words that he was exchanging with the teacher.

A coy smile came across Mister Espion's face, _"Hmph. Stoic deed, Jeremy... very well, I place the blame on you instead of Lena._ Now get back to work."

What Jeremy was unknown to was that an incredible idea was forming inside of Mister Espion's mind because of their quick conversation.

"Sure thing, Ess." Jeremy went back to his paper, still thinking on how to begin his sentence.

The whole classroom seemed to quiet down just a pinch after Jeremy's conversation with the teacher.

Lena smiled as she did her work. She opened her notebook and ripped out a small piece of paper, writing 2 small words upon it. She took a discreet look at the teacher and spotted him staring down at the attendance sheet.

Now was her time.

She slid the paper towards Jeremy, hoping that he'd notice it with his peripherals; and he did.

Jeremy looked at Lena (who was sporting a small smile), then returned his stare back to the small piece of paper that was handed to him.

The two words _'Thank you'_ was written on it. The words were beautifully written, and even seemed to appear _cursive_ at first glance. What made it better was the fact that she had also drawn a small smiley face beside the words. It made Jeremy want to smile... _so he did._

He folded the paper carefully and put it in his pockets. He looked back at her with a smile of his own.

"You're welcome." He said, catching the eyes of a few students because of how weird he sounded.

Who was the gesture pointed at?

 _Only Lena and Jeremy himself knew._

 ** _x_**

 _9:00 A.M._

A good chunk of time has passed by, and so did Jeremy's wants to attempt the task given on the sheet.

 _'Write a minimum of two well-structured paragraphs about yourself'_

 _"But who wants to even do that crap?"_ He muttered to himself, scribbling a circle on the side of his paper. He continued on his scribble by scribbling even more, until it could be considered drawing.

The drawing of a student who did not want to work.

He drew a short thin line beneath the small circle and two other thin lines on either side of the first one, both shorter than it as well. He drew 2 more thin lines beneath the first one, each one protruding in different directions horizontally.

He just drew a stick man; a very plain one though.

 _Why not spruce it up?_

Jeremy gave the scribbled figure 2 eyes and a mouth, scribbling hair on top too. He added a speech bubble above the figure, writing down a sentence that said, _'I am a stickman. Aren't I cool?'_

For some reason, he chuckled at his own drawing. Was it because of the fact that he knew he could draw _way_ better than that? Or was it because he just found the drawing funny?

Either way, his chuckle got the attention of Lena, who was almost done completing her work.

Instead of asking what he was laughing at, she took a discreet side glance at him, trying to find out what he was laughing at by the use of her eyes.

She saw an empty section of paper, her sparkly orange pencil, and a very crude drawing of a stickman on his paper.

And she never noticed it before, but wrapped around his wrists and his palm were plain white medical wraps - leaving his fingers visible to see. It was blindingly obvious too, she didn't know how she hasn't seen it yet.

She wondered what he must've done to get those put on him. If she had to take a smart guess, then she assumed it was most likely from a fight, because he gave off the persona of a scrappy student who wouldn't hesitate to throw fists at anyone (excluding a lady). And if she was right about that, the scars underneath must've been _nasty!_

As she stared at the bandaged hands, the wearer of it turned his eyes towards her.

He took a hold of his paper and presented it.

"Whaddya think?" He asked Lena with a smile.

Lena blinked her eyes and cleared her throat, looking around nervously for a second before answering him.

 _"Th-the little stickman on the left?"_ She asked, her throat feeling quite dry.

"Yeah. Doesn't he look cool? OH, and look what he's saying!" He pointed at the speech bubble.

Lena read the words that were inside, _"'I am a stickman... aren't I cool'?"_ She let out a slight hum of confusion, _"Umm... what's it supposed to mean?"_

Jeremy shrugged, "Nothing much. Just proves that he's a cool little guy on some boring piece of paper..." he gasped, _"Oh! I should give him a hat with flames around it! That would make him even more cooler!"_

She found herself smiling at him. The reason for this was unknown... maybe it was because of his smile? A convenient tug at the corner of her lips was made apparent right after she's seen his toothy smile... _maybe it was because of this._

Mister Espion however, was _not_ smiling at all.

 _"Jeremy. May I ask what you are doing at this moment?"_ An annoyed Mister Espion asked.

"Drawing a cool stick dude," he showed off his drawing proudly to the irate teacher, "think ima name him 'Mister Unusual', or maybe 'Unusual stick', cause y'know, he ain't like the rest of them. Cause I'm gonna give him a hat with flames around it, or maybe even money trailing around it or stuff, and ima give him a baseball bat cause baseball is like, the best sport in the entire frickin' world... don't ya agree, Ess?" He finished.

A couple snickers were heard from some classmates.

Mister Espion rolled his eyes, _"I_ _care not for mundane topics such as baseball_ _and your silly stick figure, Jeremy. What I do care for is that you resume to your task, and refrain from activities such as... 'drawing'."_ He said, "Complete at _least_ one task before class is finished."

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Let's see if I will." Jeremy said.

But knowing Jeremy Jones, Mister Espion knew that he wasn't going to listen to his request. Still, it was worth a try.

 _ **x**_

Jeremy returned to his 'work', visibly focused on his creations so far.

Lena took a side glance at his paper and spotted _more_ stick figures than earlier - _6, to be specific._

She spotted a rudely drawn warplane with 2 stick figures below, shooting at the hull with rifles. She also spotted a vehicle, with 1 stick figure on each side. 1 was equipped with a knife while the other was equipped with a bonesaw.

And the last 2 stick figures were located near the line of where his name should've been written. The both of the figures were equipped with scoped rifles, and judging from the thin lines that were leaving the slim barrel of the drawn rifle, she assumed that they were firing at something.

She didn't know _what,_ though.

Lena finished her work, and found it safe to engage in a conversation with Jeremy - hopefully without stuttering or fumbling her words.

"Whatcha doing there, Jeremy?" She asked, with confidence as well!

"Drawing a cool scene from a movie I watched yesterday... _or was it a month ago?"_ He shrugged, _"Eh, it was probably a year ago, but I dunno."_ He looked at her, "Doesn't it look cool?"

Lena found herself surprised at how well he could draw the weapons and the stick figures... the only thing she found herself despising was how horrible he drew the plane.

"Not bad... though, maybe the plane could use a bit more detail." She suggested.

"Ahh, I know, I know. I always have a hard time drawing these friggin' things. That's why I just stick to the bread and butter of what I can draw - people, and stuff that can hurt." He explained.

"Planes can hurt too, especially when not operated right." She responded.

He snapped a finger at her, giving out a quiet gasp, _"You're right! Maybe I should practice drawing planes 'n stuff!"_

"That would be nice... and umm, maybe you can show me your drawings of it... _if you want to, of course."_ She quietly added.

"Why wouldn't I?" He quickly responded, "You gave me the idea anyways. I'll draw a plane on the next worksheet Ess gives us, and maybe you can help me out with it."

"That would be nice." Lena agreed.

She took a look at the clock above the door.

 _9:15 A.M._

Mister Espion stood up from his table and projected his voice across the room, "Class! If you may put all pencils down and hand in whatever has been managed to finish, for the time to hand in the work is here." He announced.

He snuck a look at Jeremy's paper and was less than impressed at what was on it.

 _"... Jeremy, is this an art class?"_ He asked the student.

Jeremy shook his head, "Nope. It's an English class, Ess."

"Exactly my point... so please, tell me _why_ there are more drawings of _stickmen_ than there are of actual words of the English language?"

Jeremy shrugged, _"Eh. Beats me."_

Mister Espion groaned, _"Ugh... Impossible."_ He picked up Jeremy's paper and began collecting the other student's sheets as well.

While he was doing so, Jeremy turned towards Lena.

"Hey. You even finish that stuff?" He asked her.

She nodded in response, "Mhm. All of the five questions... no offense, but it boggles me to know that you hadn't finished the first question. It seemed pretty easy. Nothing too rash." She said.

He rolled his eyes with a lazy smile, "Yeahhh, I guess..." he then looked at her, _"but_ _who wants to do work on the first day of school?"_ He asked, "Be honest, did ya even wanna do this?"

She shook her head, her eyes constantly darting away from, and onto his eyes, "Err- no... but I have to if I want a high average for my grades." She answered.

 _"Yikes! Sounds pretty painful."_ He said.

She shrugged, "Eh. It does hurt sometimes, but I get used to it."

"Damn. That couldn't be me." He said.

It didn't take a professional to see that Jeremy and Lena were two students that were _completely_ different from one another.

One student was striving for high grades, while the other... _not so much._

 _And one student had confidence, while the other one clearly lacked it._

 _Who was who?_

Mister Espion, after finally collecting the last of the sheets, made one final announcement to his students.

"Class, you may mingle amongst yourselves until the bell rings. Do whatever you please with the last ten minutes on the first day of class, and always keep this in mind; _Strive and prosper for maximum effort - always."_

He sat back down on his chair and pulled a book from under his desk. He leaned back and flipped the page to where the bookmark was stuck in, reading where he last left off.

A disgruntled sigh came out of Jeremy, _"Gnh... sucks that my people are in different classes._ If they were all in this class, Mister Ess would be flipping on the spot!" He looked towards Mister Espion, "Ain't that right, Mister Ess?" He called out.

Mister Espion grumbled, _"Oui, oui - you and your company of fellow delinquents: Memories of a posse I wish to subside."_ He responded, not taking his eyes off the book.

Jeremy laughed, "Hah!" He then turned towards Lena, _"Trust me. Ess loved that class. We were the reason he was smiling every day!"_

Lena gave him a doubtful smile, "Really? He doesn't seem very reminiscent about it."

"Don't fall for that. It's just his way of presentin' himself; all mysterious and low-key and all that crap that would probably make him a cool spy for a movie or something — _it's just a front, y'know?_ He ain't what he seems like when you've been a student of his for two years, and trust me, I'd know."

Lena turned around to sneak a look at Mister Espion, and Jeremy was right. He _did_ look like the type to play a role that involved incognito.

Lena agreed with a nod, "You're right. He looks suited for a movie role as a spy."

Jeremy didn't hear her, as he was busy taking looks at her apparel, and her accessories. Her notebook; It was coloured a navy blue and a solid red, with the Union Jack taking on the upper right of the cover. Her backpack was a navy blue colour as well, and there was a small Union Jack that could be seen on both sides.

"You aren't from around here... right?" He asked her.

"Boston?" She shook her head, "Nope. What gave it away?"

"Your bag. Your book... and you just _sound_ like a Brit, y'know?"

"Yes. That I know. My accent's always gonna be a dead giveaway of my background," she sighed, "can't do anything about it unfortunately."

Jeremy raised a brow at a word, _"'Unfortunately'?"_ He quoted, "Why'd ya include that word? There ain't anything bad about the way your voice sounds. Who told ya that?"

Lena couldn't help herself from being awkward.

 _"Oh. I-uh, I didn't say it was bad, it's just.."_ she pouted her lips as her brain jammed for a second, _"... it's just that some people think I sound too young for my age, and- well, I'm 16, sooo..."_ she trailed off, unsure of how to end her sentence, and the fact that his eye contact was so _strong_ with her's was definitely distracting.

Her eyes wandered everywhere but his face, _"Umm.. people... tend to think that I'm... um."_

Jeremy was smiling at how unsure she was.

"People think you sound like a baby?" He asked.

She snapped her finger, giving him an awkward smile, "Ye! Yes, yes, _that._ It's silly, I know, but..." she mustered enough strength to meet his eyes, _do I sound like one though?"_

He shrugged, "What if I said 'yes'?"

She giggled, casually putting her hands on her hip, "Hm. I'd say that you're lying because I _don't_ sound like one at all."

He smiled at her, "There ya go."

Lena saw what he did there, and she was impressed to say the least.

 _"Oh... wow. Uhm, pardon my tone, but bloody hell - That was actually clever, luv'."_ She said, genuinely impressed at his little setup to dwindle her insecurity.

He accepted the praise and built up on it, "I'm smart, I know, I know. Just gotta know when to use it." He told her. He closed his notebook and gathered the two pencils, placing it inside of a small compartment inside his duffel bag, "Wellll... I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow then."

Lena glanced at the clock.

 _9:20 A.M._

 _"It's early though. Ten minutes, actually... w-why?"_ She asked, a tinge of disappointment in her tone.

"Cause, the earlier the better, right?" He picked up his duffel bag and strapped it across his back, placing the hat firmly back onto his head.

The female student found herself in a dipped mood because of how sudden he was leaving the class.

She _really_ wanted to talk more with him. She found him interesting and funny to talk to.

But for some reason, she had trouble asking him to stay; the words refusing to come out, and when she did decide to open her mouth just _slightly_ to ask him - it was too late.

"Gotta see what my guys are up to, y'know?" He gave her a quick salute, "See ya, Lena..."

A pause from him, and a fake smile from her.

 _"... hey, whaddya know? That rhymes!"_ He stood up from his seat and turned for the door.

A very quiet, _'Bye'_ came out of her mouth. As she stared at him, she couldn't deny it.

She was attracted to him.

There was just something special about sitting next to Jeremy Jones that made her feel so tingly and warm inside, even if it was for less than an hour. She had no business with delinquent's such as him, but there was something so attractive about him that she found herself falling for... and it wasn't just his striking looks either.

The warmth on her cheeks was an obvious sign. There was something very, _very_ _enticing_ about him. He was a stupid goofball, yes, but he was tolerable and funny too, and his smile was amazing, and he stood up for her! His eyes were blue too - _and blue was her second favourite colour,_ which may or may not have been a factor of what urged her to shy away from eye contact...

Who knows? She was generally shy when communicating with boys, but for some reason, she was _especially_ shy when communicating with _him..._ so maybe it was this...

Mister Espion narrowed his eyes at Jeremy. He cleared his throat and put down the book he was reading, "And where is this one off to?" He called out.

Jeremy turned while still walking, "My second period, Ess. Where else?"

"You will not leave this class until 9:30, Jeremy." Mister Espion said.

"Ess, c'mon man - remember last year how ya let me and my boys leave early as long as we ain't make too much noise?"

Mister Espion rolled his eyes, "I was feeling generous that day." He defended.

"For a 'day'? Hah! More like a month!" Jeremy put his hand on the door handle, "Trust me, Ess. I ain't gonna make a sound. I-I'll be like a frickin' mouse, or- or a mice, or even a small mouse, riding on top of a small mice, _riding on top of a-"_

Mister Espion let out a heavy sigh, _"Mèrde! Very well!"_ He interrupted, "Leave early, but do not make this a habit." He warned.

"Don't worry, Mister Ess," Jeremy opened the door and stepped out, _"I'll try!"_

He let the door close, and in an instant, the class seemed peaceful without the chatter of Jeremy.

Dell spoke up.

 _"Seems like a no good trouble-maker, sir."_ He commented.

"Interesting specimen. Very hyper." Heiler added.

Misha nodded, "Misha agrees with German boy."

"The boy's a bozo. Aren't I right, Mister Espion?" Mundy asked.

Mister Espion sighed, _"Yes. He is. And yes, you are. It just disappoints me that students like him refuse to work towards their potential... excruciating to watch when one knows that he can do tremendous in life with the right mindset."_

Lena quietly spoke up, "He can't be that bad..."

Mister Espion gave her his attention, "I am not saying the gentleman is bad." He stated, "Improvement however, is what he should be striving for, and he can very well do so given he exerts the effort... but alas, let us not gossip about the student. Let us talk about what you all will be expecting on the next day of class."

Mister Espion spoke to the class of what to expect on the next day of class - a lesson undoubtedly, and another assignment that would certainly hone their writing skills, as well as their presentation skills.

"And with that being said, there are now five minutes left until the period ends. Do whatever you may want with this time, but I do suggest making daily logs of what goes on within class... or if you want - a daily log of a whole day," he suggested, "small activities like those build writing skills tremendously, and can help boost marks in my class when applied correctly."

Lena took it upon herself to follow Mister Espion's suggestion, because she definitely had something worth writing about.

 _The beginning of a semester with a boy she had developed a deep crush on... Day 1, so far..._

 ** _x_**

 ** _x_**

 ** _x_**

 **Wrote this just because the start of my 2nd semester was literally 3** **days ago (on a Friday for fuck sakes), and whaddya know? I also got English as my first period class, lol. So, my mind conveniently pranced on this idea on Scout and Tracer being seated together in a class. I had Scout play the role as an adorably stupid** **delinquent because it really suits his character, and I had Tracer play the role of shy schoolgirl, because it _sorta_ matches with her character.**

 **Yes, I know Tracer's as hyper, and if not, even _more_ hyper than Scout, but I enjoy writing _fluff,_ (actually adore it) so having Tracer play the role of a shy girl with goofball Scout _unintentionally_ making her fall for him just _really_ did it for me. **

**So I followed** **up with it and made a chapter about it.**

 **I'm probably going to continue this... when? I don't know. It's random with me, unfortunately.**

 ** _If you're following any of my other fics that I hadn't updated yet, you might wanna read what's below._**

 **Life's really been hitting me. I'm gonna be honest, I'm starting to lose interest in writing because of how fast my minds working on what the hell im gonna do in the future; apprenticeship, future goals, life plans and all that adult shit.**

 **With this small fic... I only decided to write this because I enjoy writing on new ideas I come up with for new fics. **

**I found out that I can't stay fully dedicated to one single thing after some time's passed (for ex. Mercenary), but I always get this random surge of motivation to continue it, and it sucks that it pops up at the most random times, because I know people are waiting for me to update it! I feel like a fucking idiot and a douche for making them wait because of my lack of interest. I feel like a hypocrite, honestly; Remembering the time I poured salt on fics that I wanted to be continued, only for me to be in the same exact situation as the authors that have written them...**

 **I'm sorry for being like this, but hopefully I do get re-motivated to continue my major fic and my other smaller fics... just needed a change of scenery, I guess.**

 **I don't know what I'm going to write next, but hopefully you guys will like it, and hopefully y'all enjoyed this :)**


	2. Making A Friend

**_Making A Friend._**

Lena had just gotten through her first day of a Grade 11 Math Class. She sat in the first row, as always. She was closest to the door, because she preferred to leave math class early as it was her least favourite subject despite what her desired profession required... _and it was math._

The students in class were about as average as she could ask for, but she had a feeling that she was a _tinge_ smarter than most inside, and the teacher - like many teachers that had taught her - were _average._

 _Unmemorable — for a better term._

 _She hadn't even remembered his name... or was it a her?_

 _She couldn't be bothered to remember._

She breezed through the immediate lessons that were given by the teacher, and she even managed to refresh her mind on the topics that were introduced to her last year. Most noticeably, the beginning of the nightmares of math — the infamous _algebra._

It shuddered her to see an algebraic equation, even if it was the simplest one, but, at least she was trained for moments like this, because it was a guaranteed positive to have parents that urged their kid to do well in school - especially Mathematics.

Not everything was sweet though.

Since her parents were so positive on Mathematics, she had little time for socializing amongst friends and other mundane tasks such as mall shopping. The only time she'd truly feel like a teenager was through the use of her computer.

She never knew it could be so much fun to play mindless flash games on a computer!

The way that the pixels would explode and react so violently whenever she clicked on it was satisfying to see, and _fun_ to experience.

And, the only time she'd get to feel like a true teenager when in _school_ (whatever her definition for that was) was when lunchtime came around, or free-time, as she usually called it because of how quick she ate her lunch.

 _"An apple a day keeps the doctor away,"_ she muttered as she bit into its edible red surface. The hallways were packed and crowded. She had to skillfully maneuver her way through the halls as she was shorter than the average student, and more likely to fall over if bumped into by a taller one. A height of 5'4 was generous compared to most women, as it was just 3 inches below the average height of a man, but the local populace around this school seemed to surpass her height by a great margin... _the boys at least... scratch that-_

 _ **The Grade 13 boys**, which may as well been all the Grade 13's in the school — which were plenty._

Unfortunately for younger students, as well as Freshmen that were still vulnerable to bullies and bigger, more immature-minded students — there were a wave of Grade 13's that have been held back for 1 more year. A sense of immaturity and foolish wit tagged along with them, and the fact that they were all _men_ as well _—_ fully developed, and if not, then damn close to being fully developed. This wouldn't exactly help a younger/frailer student (Like Lena) traverse through the narrow halls.

But what was the reason for so many Grade 13's still residing in Sturmore High?

A question so easy that maybe even the Grade 13's could answer!

Poor performance/Unsatisfactory effort. Lack of credits. An average below 50%. Either one of these 3 or sometimes _all._

Lena considered herself a taller student back in the old school she attended, but she's never felt so _short_ when she walked the halls of Sturmore, and with her extreme case of 'feather' weight (just _**barely**_ reaching the 100 pound mark) she might've been better just waiting for the halls to clear up, because at least she would have a tremendously easier time reaching her classes!

But that meant potential lates, and Lena despised running late.

It was lunchtime though, so she had no reason to be irate about it, as she had nowhere else to go but the library, and it was open at all times of the school's hours and had no set time for students to come in.

It wasn't a surprise that the halls were packed as well. Lunchtime (like in her old schools) were usually the busiest periods that students found themselves in. With 40 minutes to do whatever, most students would take up on that time and scuffle as fast as possible to do so - wherever that might be.

And the halls would cry everytime it happened...

Lena made her way straight towards the school's library, hoping that the computers there had access to the same flash games she secretly played at home... yes, she kept her incognito hobby a _'secret',_ because she couldn't picture her parents pressuring her even harder for strict studying, and if they found out that she played games at home - _flash games nonetheless -_ then they might just hide the plug for her computer!

That would probably destroy her.

Lena was happy to know that the school allowed students to do whatever in the library. As long as they were being quiet, then there was no problem, a rule that was as simple as milk!

 ** _x_**

 ***The Library***

After surviving the onslaught of a packed school hallway, she finally stepped foot inside of the library. She noticed how quiet it was (Duh), and she also noticed the amount of students that were seated with a book in their hands.

 _"Silly, Lena. It's a bloody library. Of course they'll have books in their hands."_ She mumbled to herself.

The library was quite spacious. There was one area that was specifically meant for readers only, with 8 small, comfy couches that were meant for the bottoms of said readers. There was a main area where many tables, and small pocket-areas could be used for groups of students or either individuals that needed to work on projects. There was a back room that held books that were suited for more 'mature' audiences, and finally — _there was a computer section!_

 _God bless Technology!_

Lena walked towards an open computer spot, greeting the librarian 'Good morning' while on her way there. She was greeted with a 'Good morning' in return, and a 'Have a nice day in the library' as well.

The monitor (the whole setup) was faced away from the librarian that was keeping duty in the front counter. She placed her backpack down near the legs of the seat and took another bite of the apple in her hand. She was careful not to chew too loudly, as she was unsure whether or not the librarian allowed food to be had inside. She assumed that it wouldn't matter since she ate as quietly as a mice.

As Lena waited for the computer to start up, she was astounded at how many spots were available for the students. She counted at least _15_ available seats! The computers were grouped together as well, with no dividers in between and about 15 inches of separation from each individual monitor.

There were 3 tables behind her, an open area that was meant for quiet studies - a smaller brother to its bigger one that was just a few steps away from the entrance. There was also an assortment of books laid out on the table. It was probably the leftover of students that couldn't be bothered to deal with the complexity of a book.

After some time had passed, a login screen appeared on the monitor. It was asking for her student number and the PIN she created for her account. Lena entered the two pieces of information, and again, she waited for the computer to do its thing.

As she waited, a quick picture of the boy from her first period English class - _Jeremy Jones_ \- appeared in her mind.

She was picturing his carefree smile, which was probably the most memorable thing about him, other than his contagious personality! His smile was _amazing_ in every right, and it was oh so _satisfying_ to be the one he was doing it for... at least, that's what she _wanted_ to think.

As of the last hour or so, Jeremy has been the only person that's occupied her mind. Not even the strong grips of mathematics could stray her mind away from him. While she was thinking of him, she pictured a heart-blistering scene of him and her on an innocent first-time date, which ended (obviously!) on a slow, blissful kiss, and given that it was Lena's imagination, almost _every_ scene (or future scene) that played out in her head was going to end on something romantic... _or maybe just pure, raw passion — no restrictions._

 _*And just a heads up — Lena wasn't a clean-minded individual._

 _She watched movies, read books, and even searched up explicit content that was beyond the age of a teen. She's had her share of late night sessions with her own two fingers and her quiet moans. Living with such an isolated lifestyle did this to her, but at least she was managing it with her quiet orgasms at night.*_

Her imagination was so _vivid_ that she might've just considered it reality... oh if only it was.

The most memorable part she found about her most recent imagination (Other than the _whole_ damn thing itself) was that beautiful smile of his.

 _God,_

He probably smiled just for the hell of it.

'If it ain't broke, don't fix it-'

Only this time, he didn't know the damn meaning of the quote, and he used it recklessly as well! Besides, if he had such a nice smile, why _wouldn't_ he be using it recklessly? It was like saying sitting down on a table was better than sitting down on a chair, which made no sense.

And here she was, picturing Jeremy yet again — but this time, it wasn't revolved around something as innocent as a date night, or his mere smile... _no._

 _It was something far more explicit than both those two topics would ever dream to combine._

A long, hard sigh came out of her mouth as she leaned her elbow on the table, biting her lips because of the imagination that was popping off inside of her head.

 ** _xoxox_**

 _She pictured him in bed — her bed, to be specific, with nothing on but some boxers and that adorable hat he loved to wear. She hadn't had the pleasure to see what he looked like without his t-shirt off... oh well._ _Her imagination was great at drawing things up, so she casually slapped on a developed 6-pack to his abdomen. He suited it very well in her opinion._

 _He was tied to the frame of her bed, his wrists tied together, and she was above him, knees to the side of his waists and hands stuck to his cheeks, free to do whatever she wanted to him..._

 _He was smiling too. Thank God._

 _She faintly heard him groan out the sentence, 'Kiss my lips off like a friggin' alien.'_

 _... she smiled- almost giggled at the unusual sentence, but that was only because she knew how goofy his whole persona was._

 _And then she kissed him... **hard** — as if it were the last kiss she would ever have with him, or better yet, the first of many, so it would be remembered until death..._

 _... but there was one prime difference between the kiss she delivered and the kiss he delivered. His kiss felt terribly soft and almost... calm. Gentle, but in a good way that was much too calm that she couldn't even begin to dislike it..._

 _On the other hand though, her kiss was delivered so aggressively... very, aggressive... which sure didn't match up with her innocent persona that she currently had possession of._

 _After smothering his lips recklessly, she departed roughly from them as she gasped for breath._

 _But he had a full tank of gas left despite her aggression._

 _"You kiss like you're tryna prove something..." he smirked up at her._

 _That smile of his rendered her throat useless. That smile of his literally pulled her in closer._

 _His smirk grew even wider as he muttered out the following words to his unfinished sentence..._

 _"... I like that."_

 ** _xox_**

Unfortunately, her brain didn't have enough power to make such imagination last for long periods of time, so she was forced out of the thought for now. Maybe, she could resume the scene later, save it for bedtime — 9 P.M, 10 P.M, with her fingers ready to rub and her mouth ready to restrain, and material nearby to soak the clear fluid with...

 _She couldn't wait._

 _And it was only the first day._

She blinked her eyes and sighed to herself, partly because of being forced out of her joyous imagination, and because of how _badly_ she wanted to see more of him!

 _... and wow._

 _What a coincidence._

 _It was as if he was actually aware of such erotic thoughts that was currently thundering about in the library, and he came to seek out the source of it..._

The entrance doors swung open, with two rowdy boys walking after it. They didn't even have the decency to let the door close quietly either... again, rowdy. 

They looked like trouble. One with an afro and one with a hat, but both still looking related to the root of problems... Grade 13's?

 _No._

 _Grade 13's were built like fully developed men... the boy with the afro fit the description well._

 _But not his partner. No. That was no Grade 13. That was a Grade 11, a boy, to be specific... one that was very familiar to her eyes as well._

The familiar boy gave a slight tug at his taller partner.

"C'mon, Tav! Why the hell do you need to be in _here_ on the first day of school?!" The boy's voice asked, clearly in distress, "And before you tell me, _'Oh, it's for class'-_ shut up. Cause I know you don't study!"

Lena quickly shot her eyes towards the entrance doors, her heart starting to thud against her chest.

"It's not cause of 'at, laddie! It's because I need to find a book on how to use gunpowder for explosives!" A gruff, more deeper voice answered. He had an accent, Scottish, most likely. She could tell by the pronunciation of the words.

The other boy's reply got the concern of the librarian, who was right beside the entrance doors. She was an elderly woman, well in her sixties. Posh stance, and a gentle appearance to her. She politely confronted the pair.

 _"Excuse me?"_ She questioned, _"What is this talk about bombs and gunpowder?"_

Lena found herself observing the situation from afar, but she was mostly keeping her eyes trained on the boy with the red shirt, because that was Jeremy Jones - the goofball of Mister Espion's English class, a.k.a. the boy she sat beside with, the boy she had a deep crush on and the boy she _just_ imagined — chained to a bed!

 _Her bed!_

"This talk about bombs and gunpowder? Why, it's nothing too fancy, Missie. But think of it as personal knowledge for me and my lads-"

Jeremy elbowed the student's ribs, making him groan.

The librarian tilted her glasses, _"Excuse me?"_

 _"Er... personal knowledge... for me."_ He said, rubbing gently at his side.

The elderly woman raised a brow.

"Oh. Hopefully it turns out well for you then. Try not to harm yourself either, hun, you seem like a very sweet man with a future ahead of you."

Jeremy scoffed, rolling his eyes, obviously doubtful of what the woman just said to him.

His partner smiled however, "Appreciated, Missie. I usually don't 'ave too much expectations, you see. So thank you for that."

"No problem," The woman walked back to the front counter, "you boys have a fine time now."

Jeremy and his partner nodded at her, "You too." One replied. They continued to walk away from the counter, with Jeremy still talking to his partner, seeming irate about _something..._ but it had to be a good type of irate, because that damn smile of his was just always there on his face whenever he talked!

 _"Crikey."_ Lena muttered, still tracking his movement.

What were the chances of Jeremy going to the _library_ at the same time as her?! What was happening?! Why did the world work like this?!

Lena nervously observed the pair as they were making their way closer towards her position. She was so nervous of his presence, that she ducked her head down inside her bag, pretending to look for something... anything that would prevent him from seeing her. That was the goal. That was the goal indeed! That was-

Jeremy gasped out.

"Oh, hey! Lena!"

 _He noticed her._

 _Lena winced her eyes as she felt her cheeks heat up._

His partner looked around, in pure wonder of who Jeremy was calling out to.

"Who're you talking to, Jeremy? You're not seeing ghosts are ya?" His partner asked.

"Tav, shut up," Jeremy shot back, "I'm talking to the girl from English class. Her name's Lena." He said, giving a slight point to her.

 _"He remembered my name! Goodness-!"_ She took a breath and muttered some quiet sentences to herself before turning around to meet him.

 _"Stay calm, Lena. Stay calm. It's only Jeremy — a very very very handsome boy- You can do this."_

She put on a smile and took her head out of her bag to turn towards him... her cheeks must've caught fire because of how attractive his smile was.

She stuttered at his presence, "H-Hi, Jeremy! How're you doing?" She said in a slight panic, trying to meet his teal eyes with confidence.

Jeremy's partner - _Tavish,_ walked off as he let the two make conversation.

Jeremy looked down at her with a questioning look, tilting his head to the right.

"Doing pretty fine... what're _you_ doing in the library?" He asked, donning a curious smile, _"Homework?"_ He guessed.

Lena was finally given a good reason to break eye contact with his dreamy stare. She looked at the desk in front of her, which contained nothing but a keyboard, a mouse, and a cubed-monitor. There were no signs of academic work that could be seen.

 _"Umm... not really..."_ she gulped and dared to take a look back at him.

He was still looking at her... _smiling for whatever reason, she didn't know, but it was probably because he was so *reckless* with it._

She quickly raced her eyes back to her bag, pulling out her English binder.

 _"But since you reminded me of it, I guess there'd be no harm in completing the work that Mister Espion gave-"_

He cut in with a chuckle and made a quick reach for the corner of her binder, "Woah there, Miss Speedy! You don't need to do it on the first day," he told her. "Espion _never_ gives out homework on the first day of class - _ever."_ He told her, confident in his statement.

Lena was eyeing his hand - which was _so close_ to where her fingers were gripping onto. She just _wished_ that his fingers would accidentally squeeze just a few more inches down so it could skim across her's... _maybe next time._

She smiled at him and cleared her throat.

 _"O-okay, I-I guess that makes sense,"_ she pulled on the binder gently, watching as his smooth fingers slid off the material. She slid it back inside her bag, _"guess Espion's going to give out homework tomorrow then, correct?"_ She asked quietly, looking back at him.

"... Sorry," Jeremy apologized, "Didn't hear ya. Say that again please? Promise I'll get ya this time."

She repeated her question, each word coming out more nervous and jittery than the previous one.

 _"Espion's going to... umm, give us homework tomorrow... right?"_

He nodded, "Yeah. _Kinda sucks,_ cause knowing him, he's 'bout as serious on us studying like me being in love with Boston!" He answered. He looked away from her eyes and turned towards the computer screen.

"Oh, and you're logged on." He notified her.

Lena hadn't even noticed.

"Oh... _oh_. I didn't even realize... thank... thank you."

Yeah. She hadn't noticed because she was too busy staring at his eyes.

She placed her hand on the mouse and faced the screen, trying to think of _something_ she could say to add onto this lucky conversation with him. But fortunately for her, she wouldn't have to do so, as Jeremy added onto it instead.

"So, it's obvious that you ain't come here to read... why're you in here then?" He asked, managing to sound almost bothered to her.

"Umm. I'm just here to play those flash games that're on the Internet..."

She cleared her throat, not wanting to sound _too_ obvious about her status as a 'new' student.

"... because, you know... I don't really have anything else to do with these fourty minutes that the school provides us with, so I may as well put it to good use."

In her opinion, she didn't sound too obvious about her 'loner' status as a student.

Jeremy nodded at her reasoning, "True, true... so is that what you're gonna do for the rest of the semester?" He asked, raising a brow questionably.

She shook her head, _"No._ I wouldn't be allowed to do so in the first place because of my studies."

"I meant for when you have free time to do whatever besides your studies," he re-stated, "this all that you gonna do? Or do you got any other plans in mind?" He asked.

Time seemed to freeze for Lena at this moment. Why else would he be asking her such a question? 'Do you have any other plans in mind?' He was obviously asking if she wanted to hang out with him! But then again, she couldn't jump straight to conclusions — _especially if she was wrong about it._

 _She didn't even want to **think** of how embarrassing that would be._

Still, the question gave her quite the startle, as consitent stutters immediately sprung out from her mouth!

 _"Umm... I-Heh, w-well- No- actually..."_ she gulped and caught her breath, "... As of the moment... _no... no, not really,"_ she answered with a calm tone, "why're you asking?" She quickly followed up.

Suddenly, the deeper-toned voice of Jeremy's partner emitted from the back.

"Oi, laddie! I found it! The book!"

Jeremy turned towards him, giving him a thumbs up.

"Cool, I'll be there in a minute, hold up," he turned back to her, _"that crazy-sounding Scot-boy over there is Tavish, and he loves things that explode..."_ he shook his head with a smirk, _"crazy kid, but he's my friend though."_

Tavish made his way towards Jeremy. There was a slight hobble in his step, similar to the trod of a drunkard who was just _slightly_ drowsy. In his hand were two books. Lena caught a slight glance of one of the covers. She couldn't make out the title from afar, but she faintly read the two words _'Demolition Basics'._

The second book, a cover which could be read easily: _'Explosives for Dummies'._

She gulped quickly and came to the conclusion that he was up to no good by signing those books out.

"Let's ditch the place, lad. I have the books, the equipment - but I need the help," Tav walked past Jeremy, "come on. I 'ought to sign these out."

Jeremy turned back to him, "Ey', I'll meet up with you later!"

Tav stopped walking and turned towards him, giving him a confused look that begged for an explanation.

"I gotta talk with Lena for a bit!" Jeremy answered.

Lena smiled at the fact that Jeremy didn't ditch her for his friend. Her confidence would've been shot to a plunder if not already.

Tav shrugged at him, "Alright. But be sure to help me with this sometime." He turned back towards the librarian's table to sign the 2 books out.

Jeremy then turned back towards Lena, getting right back on track with her, "So, you don't have anything planned for the moment?"

She shook her head slowly, "Nope... but um, how did you know?"

He laughed at her, but in a respectful way.

"Hahaha! You just said you ain't had anything to do a couple seconds ago. _Remember?"_

Lena wished she could facepalm herself, but unfortunately, that wouldn't look normal in front of the presence of Jeremy, so she refrained.

 _"Err- I-I mean-"_ she huffed out an annoying breath. Great. Now she couldn't even talk properly.

 _"Sorry."_ She apologized softly.

"For what?" He asked, confused.

Everything that could've went wrong began to happen. She was fumbling her words, she couldn't even look at him, she was forgetting what she said just mere _seconds_ ago, and now — a shy blush to accompany her cheeks?!

 ** _Why?!_**

She gulped and returned to the monitor, which was still on the home screen, "... nothing. Just... just forget about it." She pointed the cursor over the internet icon and clicked twice, which prompted a browser to take over the screen.

"Okay..."

The look on Jeremy's face was obvious. He wanted to ask what exactly she was apologizing for.

"'Ey, you don't mind me askin' if you're gonna be here for the whole lunch, right?" He asked, still persistent.

Lena was suddenly feeling very torn on whether to shy away or have confidence with her reply.

 _"... umm... say I'm staying in the library for break... what would you-"_

Jeremy cut in swiftly, "Aw man! That'd be boring!" He paused, "... For _you_ at least!" He continued, "I'd bring ya along to hang out and kick it with me or something... but that's only if you'd _want_ to though. It's cool if you don't wanna. I ain't gonna cry, promise! 'Sides, I play computer games too, and I know how fun it can be to blast up a couple dumbasses with cool guns and all that stuff, so I'd totally get it if you'd wanna stay inside instead of going out."

Lena was flabbergasted at his interruption, not because of the fact that she didn't get to ask her question, but because he successfully assumed her question before it was even asked, and he provided her with the answers as well!

"You'd... _you'd hang out with me?"_ Lena asked with a slight shock, taking her eyes off the screen to look at him. A smile threatened to appear from the corner of her lips.

Jeremy shrugged and rolled his eyes, _"Well, uh, DUH!"_ He chuckled, "'Course I'd hang out with ya! You gave me some cool pencils, and you let me keep 'em! And you're new here, so it probably wouldn't hurt to show ya around the place. And if you're down for it, I could show ya some places outside the school that are kinda far, but are like, totally worth going to!" He smiled at her and awaited her reply, "So whaddya say? You wanna ditch this place now, or later?"

Lena, despite giving her all to not crack a smile at his polite offer, failed miserably, as there was a contagious smile sprawled across her face... and she had no intentions of removing it at all. Here he was, Jeremy Jones, an adorable, rebellious goofball asking to hang out with her, and even offering ideas on what to do when the time would come!

She looked at the time on the bottom corner of the monitor.

 ** _11:10 A.M._**

There were 30 minutes left for the break, and what could possibly be done in 30 minutes? Certainly not a full on trip to the arcade centre and back... the walk there alone took around 15 minutes, and the walk back would be the remainder of their whole break... that was only if he went to arcade centres on his spare time as well.

Lena assumed otherwise though. Jeremy looked like a more lively teen with more urgent matters to concern himself with, such as raising anarchy with fellow peers and causing widespread vandalism that probably included amateur drawings of stickmen... _he probably wouldn't concern himself with video games._

But before she could open her mouth to speak, Jeremy beat her to it.

"If you wanna hang out after school, I'm down for that too."

 _"Truly?"_ She asked, already thinking of the places she'd like to go to right after school... with him, of course.

He nodded, "Why not? Don't have a lotta things to do today because my boys are busy with schoolwork — _but I ain't._ So if you wanna hang out, just hit me up. I know a couple places that everyone goes to just to have some fun, or to laugh _while_ having fun... or we could stay in the library and maybe you could help me out with important school stuff cause Mister Espion told me that teamwork makes the dream work, and I just had a dream of passing his course — _last night, actually!"_ He informed.

"Really?" Lena inquired, "A dream of you passing an English class?" She questioned the odd dream because of how random it was.

He smiled, _"Right?_ I thought I'd be dreaming about flying sheep and floating eyeballs, but _English_ class?!" He rolled his eyes, "Pfft! _Weird."_

"The dream might mean something."

"Yeah, you're probably right... _but I think floating eyeballs are cooler than whatever English class gotta offer."_

She smiled at how stupid he sounded. She then thought of what to do with the time that remained for their lunch break.

"Umm... Jeremy?"

"'Sup?"

"Do you want to do homework together?"

And of course _that_ would be the first activity she would suggest to him. _Boring!_

He shrugged, "I dunno. Said earlier that we ain't gotta do work on the first day... but do _you_ want to?"

"I'm asking you though."

"Oh. Then _no,"_ he then stood up and moved a chair to her right side and sat down on it, "I say we play some games on the computer. You know, 2-player games - we both pick characters and beat the crap outta' each other so we can brag about it."

Lena was listening to his plan so far, _"To who?"_ She asked.

 _"Well..."_ he grinned at the screen and opened the internet browser by clicking on its icon, _"I don't wanna sound too cocky - but I'll be bragging to you about how I won."_

Lena let out a slow laugh in return. She knew where this was going.

"Oh? _Is that so?"_

She turned towards him and crossed her arms. Little did Jeremy know, she was an absolute pro at playing flash games and casual games that required strategic button mashing. It was all she ever did at home whenever she wasn't studying or doing chores.

She made it a goal to demolish him with her flash game skills.

Jeremy entered in the URL of the website in the search bar and waited for the page to load. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as well, looking back at her.

 _"Yup."_

The page finished loading, and as it did, there were many thumbnails of 2-player games that Lena quickly recognized that were being displayed on-screen.

"Pick any game, but I'm pretty sure it won't matter cause... y'know - _I'm pretty friggin' good at winning."_

Lena scoffed at his cocky behaviour, "Oh yeah? We'll see who gets the last laugh, luv'." She put her hand on the mouse and hovered the cursor over a game that was named _'Stick Battles'._

She clicked on it, and waited for the game and the page to startup.

 ** _xox_**

As soon as the game started up, they were introduced to the main menu, where it was accompanied by a classical 32-bit soundtrack.

Luckily, the volume output of the computer was on 30%, which meant the audio could be heard by only them two, and not the rest of the people that were inside the library.

"Hm..." Jeremy leaned forward from his chair, squinting his eyes at the main menu.

 _"... Stick battles?_ Why'd I never heard of this game before?"

She shrugged, "It's probably a game that was meant for pros, and _only_ for pros."

He pointed at himself, "Ah. You mean 'me', right?"

She shook her head, "Nope. I meant 'myself', and maybe some others, but, um, definitely not _you."_

"Pshh, _whatever,"_ he clicked on the bar that was labelled '2 Players'. The game then showed a display of a character on each side.

On the left side of the screen was Lena's character, and on the right was Jeremy's. The characters were simple stick-figure sprites, each equipped with a fighting stance. Beside them was an option to change their colour.

"Wait. Before we start," Lena reached over to the mouse and hovered the cursor above the 'colour' option of her stick-figure. She choosed from the choices and picked the colour of orange, which turned her character into a completely orange figure - top to bottom.

"Ready." She said, letting her hand off the mouse.

As she retracted away from the mouse, she took more of an obvious notice to his scent. He smelled nice - like soft dew and fresh... _grass?_

 _She assumed that he was an outdoors person._

Jeremy raised a brow at her colour choice.

 _"Orange?"_ He asked, giving her a warm side glance.

She shy'd away from his glance and rolled her eyes gently, _"I know, I know._ Not everyone likes the colour, but I find it attractive nonetheless."

She looked towards him, only slightly, "It's my favourite actually."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Mhm."

"Shoot. I thought blue was your favourite colour. You know, cause of your bag and one of the pencils ya gave me."

"Oh. Blue? It's my second favourite actually." She told him, "It came close to topping orange as my favourite, but I just find myself more... _fancied,_ to orange."

"Okay..." Jeremy placed his hand on the mouse and hovered over the character's colour selection panel.

"It's only gonna make sense if I make my guy blue then." He said. He then clicked the blue panel, and in an instant, his stick-figure was covered in the colour of blue.

"How does it make sense? Is your favourite colour blue?" She asked curiously.

 _"... eh,"_ he shrugged, "I sorta don't got a favourite colour - so I guess I'll just borrow one from you if you don't mind."

"By all means, go bonkers, but _how_ do you not have a favourite colour, luv'?"

"I dunno, why don't people have a favourite hat?"

She smiled at his odd question, "What? I wouldn't even know, because I myself don't wear hats."

He snapped a finger and clicked his teeth, pointing finger-guns at her.

 _" **Exactly**."_

She giggled at how stupid this conversation was. Maybe there was something she wasn't getting. Maybe there was a deep metaphor (or an advanced English term that she couldn't be bothered to remember) that he was using with his vague response. Whatever it was, she didn't have the intentions of finding it out, and she _really_ wanted to kick his ass in this game.

"I don't understand the response, but sod it. Let's play!"

She reached over for the mouse and clicked on the 'Proceed' button, which caused the screen to fade to a stage selection screen.

There were a total of 10 stages - all similar in terms of length, but different in terms of design and layout. There was a map that caught both of the students eyes, and what a coincidence!

 _They were looking at the same one._

The preview of the map showed a 2D race track with cars that were passing by the screen. The background of the map showed wind marks and small clouds dotted over the sky, with the sun faintly shining in one corner. It was a fairly simple layout with linear sides of the map for both characters.

Jeremy took a side glance at Lena, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

She glanced back, "What's that?"

Without having a chance to react, Jeremy reached for the mouse, which Lena's hand was still holding, and ever so casually, she felt the surface of his fingers linger gently over her own.

She would've felt his whole hand if it wasn't for the wraps around it.

And before she knew it, his hand was above her's.

She was touching hands with him.

Holding hands with him-!

!!!

 _Okay, maybe not holding, _but close enough!

 _"Oh,"_ she let out a gasp at the foreign contact that her fingers were receiving.

"Don't worry, I'm picking a stage that I think we'll both like." He said, unbeknownst of the shock that was on her face.

She didn't even know what he was saying. Her focus was completely allocated to the mouse. She instantly locked on to his covered hand and immediately noticed the size difference between his and her hand.

 _Her hand was so much smaller than his! And her fingers looked adorable when compared to his longer ones!_

A blush started to approach her cheeks.

He wasn't exactly _grabbing_ or holding her hand... instead, he was guiding her. The gentle pushes of his fingers against her's was enough to move the mouse's cursor above a certain stage. The name of the stage was 'Race Track'.

Jeremy quickly took his hand off Lena's. "Annnd, there we go! This stage looks cool."

Lena was effectively frozen in place while his fingers were touching _slightly_ against her's. That was why she gasped louder than before when his fingers left her's.

"Woah." He turned to her fully, _"... you okay?"_ He asked in a lower tone, "Sounded like you choked on water or something, what happened?"

Her hand was still on the mouse. Her reactions seemed to have been delayed, as it took some seconds for her to respond to him.

 _"... nothing, I... um, I just have to use the restroom."_ She slowly sat up from her chair, "I'll be back soon."

"Alright. I'll keep the spot nice and warm until ya get back."

She nodded and went on her way to the washroom, her blush from earlier rising steadily as she walked.

 ** _x_**

 ***Females Washroom***

Lena hadn't even went inside the stall of the washroom, because she was too busy looking at herself in the mirror.

She took a deep breath and stared at herself,

 _"How is he this confident? How?"_ She whispered.

She was staring at her own blush, which was going away, but slowly. She felt her blush with the tips of her fingers... it was warm and if she could describe the _feel_ of the colour red, 'warm' would be her word of choice.

It clashed against her pale complexion with such an obvious tone, thus giving her cheeks a vast difference in terms of appearance.

As she stared in the mirror, her brain was recalling the feel of his fingers against her's. Obviously, it felt _good._ His fingers were soft, slender, and much longer than her own ones.

She didn't know it was possible to be so infatuated by the touch of his fingers, but she was learning new things everyday, and she just learned that it was _indeed_ possible, to be attracted to the touch of him.

Her imagination was running loose after a while. She pictured what it must've felt like to have his fingers gliding across her cheeks and caressing against her jaw, and most importantly, tickling against her inner thighs... _and the very important inches above the area..._

 _"Fuck."_ She muttered to herself. She scrapped the explicit thought for another day, took a deep breath, and exhaled calmly.

She walked away from the mirror and went to wash her hands, that way, if he ever decided to be so casually intrusive with his fingers again, then at least her hands would be extra-squeaky clean. She took a deep breath and walked over to the nearby air-dryer. Once she was confident in how soft her hands felt, she walked out the washroom and made her way back to the library, all while thinking about how lucky she must've been to have such a handsome boy waltz right into her life so suddenly.

 ***The Library***

As Lena entered the doors and made her way back to the computer, she saw Jeremy tapping his fingers against the edge of the table and looking downwards.

He was most likely waiting for her return.

"Sorry for the wait, luv', I'm back,"

Her voice caused him to look up at her.

"Woah. Good thing you came back," he said with a smile.

She gave him a questioning look and sat down on her chair.

"Why?"

"I thought you went up and ditched the place, that's why," he told her, "you were gone for a good 10 minutes. Had me thinkin' that I was gonna have to play this thing by myself. That's why."

Has it really been 10 minutes since she went to the washroom? Has she really been talking to her own reflection for a whole 10 minutes while she was in there?

She was surprised by his response too. She was half-expecting him to walk out the library because of his other friend that wanted his help earlier. The fact that he didn't think of leaving made her happy.

She quickly apologized for making him wait.

"Oh, has it actually been that long? I'm sorry for the wait. I didn't realize how long I was in there for."

He shrugged, "It's cool. Sometimes I'm in the washroom for 30 minutes and I don't even know it."

"... doing what?" She asked. It was a question that she might've found rhetorical, because what else would a boy be doing in a school washroom for half an hour?

"Wasting time." He answered, "So when I get back to class, there'll be like, 20 minutes left or something, and before ya know it, class is done!"

"Doesn't sound like something I'd do... and doesn't the teacher ever call the office or something?"

"Eh. Sometimes. But it don't stop me from doing it, cause I still do it. And you might even see me do it during Espion's class, cause English makes me sleep, and my legs need to work."

Lena was reminded of what her mother told her before the new grade started. It was what she always told her before every new semester started.

 _'Watch the company you keep.'_

Her mother warned her about individuals such as Jeremy; the carefree, most-likely to skip class type. She told her that she was better off avoiding them entirely because if she was to befriend one, their habits would become her habits, and she guaranteed it would lead to academic downfall.

Lena was already considering Jeremy as a friend, because anyone who offered to hang out with her after school must've been a friend, right?

Right!

It wasn't like Lena was ignoring her mother's advice, but she felt it was okay to continue talking with Jeremy...

Actually,

It was _more_ than okay. She literally pictured him chained to her bed and thought about what it must've felt like for his fingers to linger around her crotch — and this was all recent as well. If anything, it was an obvious choice for her to keep talking to him if her imagination consisted of such horny-levels.

She just needed to figure out how to actually make those thoughts reality.

Jeremy continued talking, "But 'nuff 'bout that. Let's beat each other up." He said, in referral to the flash game that was on standby.

"Right." Lena agreed. She clicked on the 'FIGHT!' box, which took the screen to the 'Race Track' stage.

A countdown that started at '3' appeared at the middle of the stage. Both stick-figure fighters occupied one side. Orange figure on right and blue figure on left. Both Jeremy and Lena placed their fingers above the keyboard controls of their characters. They had half of the keyboard to work with, with Jeremy utilizing keys 'WASD' for movement, 'KL' for strikes, and with Lena utilizing the arrow keys for movement, '1' and '2' on the numpad, for strikes.

Many would consider it a cramped setup, but Lena didn't mind it at all. This was mostly because her fingers were small, which allowed her to move quickly across the keyboard. The same couldn't be said about Jeremy's however.

Lena smirked at her competition.

"I hope you're ready for a thorough beatdown, luv'."

Jeremy scoffed, _"Pffft! You wish."_

 ** _x_**

The countdown began...

3...

2...

1...

Before the 'Fight' prompt showed up, Lena's stick figure was already out the gates and began rushing towards her opponent with no hesitation. Jeremy's stick figure was caught off guard, as for a second, it didn't know how to react. He pressed the first button that came to mind, and almost instantly, the figure jumped, and jumped again, reaching a metal platform.

Lena's stick figure reached the vicinity of its enemy and hounded after it, jumping for the same platform. They were now on equal ground, with only some space between them.

Lena's stick figure dived headfirst at Jeremy's, instantly landing 2 quick strikes and 2 quick kicks. He was unable to strike back and thus forced to retreat from an already losing situation.

Lena started to grin. Not even 15 seconds into the fight and she knew that she had the advantage already. His character was inexperienced against seasoned opponents such as herself. All that was needed to be done was to finish it off three times.

Jeremy's stick figure retreated to lower ground, already losing a partial amount of its total HP. Rest wouldn't come so easy, as there was already a hounding stick figure hot on its trail. Coming from above was a strike that was destined to land on him, but he dodged it and held ground. He took advantage of the fact that she was stunned from the missed airstrike, and landed 2 strikes of his own before she could retaliate.

They were on equal ground once again. They waited for one another to make the first move. The fast race cars in the background seemed to slow down and the cheers of the crowd only added to the tension, but after some seconds, Lena's stick figure proved to be the aggressor - again, diving headfirst for her opponent.

This time she came in with a flurry of strikes and kicks that were much too quick for her opponent to counter, and once again, he was forced to retreat, getting only little strikes of importance back onto his opponent.

Jeremy's stick figure ran to the right-side corner of the map and jumped for a metal platform. He continued jumping from platform to platform until he managed a safe distance from the aggressive opponent below.

Lena's stick figure stood still as it reached a platform.

"Jeremy. How do you expect me to beat your arse if you keep running?" Lena taunted.

"Game ain't even over yet." Jeremy said, "Come up here and get me, I won't run anymore."

Lena let out a sigh of relief at hearing that, "Finally!"

Lena's stick figure jumped up platform to platform to reach her enemy, but just when she was least expecting it, his stick figure delivered a quick downwards airstrike on top of her, stunning her onto the platform below. He landed beside her, delivered a flurry of strikes to her stunned form, and just like _that,_ round 1 went to Jeremy.

Lena couldn't help but be baffled at how she lost that round, even when she had the clear advantage earlier on!

 _"That was pure luck, luv'."_ She commented with a sour face.

He raised a brow, "Or maybe it was me just being too frickin' good at this game."

She rolled her eyes. _"Oh shut it."_

Lena couldn't wait to demolish him in the second round. She was sure she had his number now.

 _'If he likes to play patient then I'm just gonna have to keep the pressure going until he has no time to think.'_ She thought to herself.

The countdown began once again, and the prompt to fight appeared shortly after.

The start of the second round was similar to the first round, except, Lena's stick figure was given an extra supply of vigor and assault. Constant pressure from the beginning denied Jeremy's stick figure to create any sort of separation from her, and just a few seconds later, the onslaught of attacks died down.

And so did Jeremy's stick figure. Round 2 went to Lena.

He squinted an eye and commented on her style of play.

"That was pretty frickin' aggressive, Lena. Wow. Ain't even give me a chance to get out and move."

She gave off a smile that was visible from all angles, "It's how I play." She responded. With that, she felt excited and confident going into the final round, and she had no doubt in her mind that she was going to win against him.

The countdown for the third round began as both of them respawned on their corresponding sides. This was it. The deciding round of the game. The round that decided who would get exclusive bragging rights when it came to internet flash fighting games... at least for now.

The round began, with the usual action of Lena's stick figure pursuing Jeremy's stick figure aggressively. With her character hot on his trail, he flee'd towards higher ground, reaching it with a jump. Unsurprisingly, she went after him, which only lead to him creating further separation from him the closer she got.

The first seconds of this final round was similar to the first, and that was the one that Lena lost. She would be a fool for it to happen again.

As she continued to chase him from platform to platform, she made a comment.

"I see what you're trying to do, luv'."

Jeremy took his eyes off the screen for a second, but still remained focused somehow. "What am I trying to do?" He asked, donning a grin, as if he already knew the answer.

Lena however, was focused on the game and responded without turning an inch towards him. She flinched a bit when his character was _just_ out of striking distance, which lead to a missed attack, "Damn it," she cursed out, "you're trying to lure me into a bad spot- and I assure you that it's not going to work."

He shrugged at her assumption, "Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows? I wanna see if you can catch me though. Looks like you're having some trouble reaching me." He said, already having witnessed a numerous amount of her useless lunges and out-of-reach strikes.

"Hah. Keep that rubbish up and I'll get you eventually."

Unfortunately for her, 'eventually' didn't mean anytime soon...

A whole minute passed without her stick figure landing a single strike on his. This by itself was infuriating for her, but the constant taunting of her opposition after every failed pursuit was just downright _annoying._

2 minutes passed, and a stare-off was held between the two stick figures.

 _"Why won't you just come down here and fight me?"_ She asked him, a taint of irritation in her tone. She was growing tired of pursuing only for him to completely avoid an altercation.

"I don't know. Why won't you come up here and hit me?"

She sighed, "That's difficult, Jeremy. You're running away every time that I get close. And when I do get close, it's like I wasn't even there cause you're already gone!" She complained.

He took his fingers off the keyboard, as if to just add even more insult to injury.

"What if I take my fingers off the controls? Maybe you'll catch me like that."

"Then obviously I'd win?" Lena said, but she saw that his hands weren't far enough from the keyboard... not far enough for comfort.

"... but what if it was all just a trick?" She assumed, eyeing his hands, "What if I moved just an inch closer to you, and you would return yourself to this rabbit chase we're in?"

"The rabbit chase _'We'_ in? Nah. This the rabbit chase _'You're'_ in." He said, pointing at her with the two hands that he should've been moving his character around with, and _not_ carelessly keeping away from the keyboard! "And so what if it's a trick? You'd probably find a way to mess it up." He grinned at the taunt.

Lena took her hands off the keyboard as well and crossed her arms at Jeremy.

"I suppose we should test that out then, right?"

He shrugged, "Sure. Go easy on me though, I'm literally _not_ playing."

She rolled her eyes and instantly put her fingers on the keyboard, controlling her character and heading for his. She looked at him to see if he made a reach for the controls, but nope. Not even a flinch.

She paused as she looked at him.

 _"... Hmm... I don't trust you."_

"What?" He smiled at her, "I'm letting you catch up to my character. What's _not_ to trust in that?!" He asked, visible confusion on his face.

She smiled back.

 _"No!_ It's just-! Um- uh," she put a thumb to her cheek in thought, "um. It's just that I don't feel like I should _completely_ take your word for it."

"Uhh..." he shrugged, "that ain't answered the question though. Why don't you trust me?"

"Because... Umm... because-"

He interrupted her, "Hah! Time's up! You don't have an excuse, so hurry up and catch up to my guy. I'm only like, four jumps away from you."

She sighed and faced the computer once again, "Fine. I'm trusting you, but _only_ because you managed to convince me."

Lena controlled her character and jumped up the platforms to reach his idle character. She was 1 jump away from the platform he was on. She took a look back at him and squinted her eyes with suspicion.

 _"You promise not to fight back, right?"_

He smirked, _"I didn't promise not to fight back."_

Lena took her hands away from the keyboard and pointed at him as if he was guilty of murder!

 _"HAH! I knew I couldn't trust you!_ To think I almost took your word for it!" She laughed out.

"'Ey, I only told ya that I'd let you catch up to mine - _not beat the crap out of."_

She groaned at his reasonable argument and was at odds at what to do now. She could either get her fingers on the keyboard, make the jump on the platform he's on and mash away at him until his HP bar is fully depleted, OR, she could either somehow hold him at bay while at the same time, beat away at his character.

For whatever reason, she decided that the latter was the best course of action to take.

Her character stood idle and his as well.

"You know what I'll do instead?" She said.

"What?"

Without answering, she scooted her chair in front of his, which forced his hands away from the keyboard, and she began jumping towards his still-idle character.

The action completely took him by surprise. "Wha-? Hey-!" He tried finding his arms around her to reach the controls for his character, but her body was doing a tremendous job at blocking it.

Now she was focused. Despite how unorthodox she was controlling her character from the other side of the table, she managed to reach the same platform he was on and deliver a flurry of unanswered strikes towards her opponent. Each strike landed took his HP bar down by a notch, and that smile of her's got wider each time it did.

Feeling the sense of defeat and finding no other way to get around her, he decided to pull the chair she was on just so he could buy some time for his almost dead character.

He pulled her chair away from the table quite easily, but the sound that came from the legs scraping at the floor garnered the attention of the librarian at the front.

The librarian looked up from her desk and called towards the young pair, "Excuse me? Is everything okay back there?"

Lena was much too busy laughing and getting back towards the computer, while Jeremy was too focused on spamming strikes towards her temporarily-uncontrollable character.

He managed to chop down a large portion of her HP before she swiped away at his fingers, thus rendering his character idle. With one hand however, he pressed his whole palm against the controls for her character, but unfortunately, he pressed a bit too much of her controls, and her character began to strike out at its opponent.

"What's going on there?" The librarian stood up from the desk and began walking towards the young pair.

Jeremy looked up from the screen to give the librarian a quick response, "Nothing bad! Don't worry!" And as soon as he looked back at the screen, he was greeted by the following words in big fonts.

The words read 'GAME OVER. PLAYER ONE — WINS!"

Lena didn't even notice the screen because she was too focused on the approaching librarian. She was whispering to Jeremy with eyes that spelled worry. "Oh no, oh no! We're in trouble! What do we do?!"

He turned towards her, shook his head and scoffed, "Don't worry, Lena. We ain't getting in crap. Watch this," he turned back towards the approaching librarian with a smile. "'Ey, Miss! Nothing happened, I promise."

"Oh? Then why did it look like you two were fighting over the keyboard just then?" She asked, now walking slowly towards them.

"Aha," he fake-laughed and opened the 'Document-Writing' program without looking at the screen, "It only looked like that cause we had conflictin' ideas on what our topic sentence should be for our homework! Right, Lena?" He turned towards her and gave her a quick wink.

Lena looked at the librarian and then looked at the screen.

The screen was showing a blank document with random letters on it.

"Uh- Y-y-yeah. Heh," she cleared her throat, "Yeah, his wording just seemed a bit dodgy, that's all..."

The librarian observed the screen and looked back at them.

"It's only the first day. There's no need to rush to conclusions so early. Give it some time and the idea will better formulate instead of coming out like so," she gestured at the string of random letters on the page, "And please, try to keep the noise at a minimum when working in the library. I shouldn't have to tell you this."

Jeremy nodded, "Yes, Miss."

"Good." The librarian smiled and began to walk back towards her desk.

Lena quietly dragged her seat towards the table and sat down, "That was close." She said.

He looked down at her, "Yeah. So was the game."

She opened the browser and giggled as she saw the screen, "Hehe. I won by a long shot." She teased, "I told you I was gonna win. Does this mean I get bragging rights?"

"I woulda got on my knees and bowed down to you as the flash-fighting master, but you pulled a quick one on me." He said, recalling the diversion she did for her victory.

She knew it was a cheap move, and that if it was done against her then she would've been complaining, but he seemed to be handling it well despite all. "I'm sorry. You just kept running around the map and it was getting annoying."

"Ah whatever. I probably would've done the same thing." He checked the time at the lower right corner of the screen, "Woah. It's 11:40 already."

Her eyes widened, "It's time for class already?!"

"Eh. We got 5 minutes left, but-"

"But I'll be late!" She interrupted. She zipped her backpack closed and grabbed on the straps, putting both around her shoulders. She logged out of the computer and stood up from the chair, tucking it back along the table. "Where's your bag?" She asked.

"In my locker."

"Well, lets go get it then, shall we?" She suggested.

"Don't worry about me. I ain't gonna go to class too soon."

She raised an eye, "Wha-? Why?" It may have only been the first day, but attending class was still kind of important.

He shrugged, "Got other stuff to do. But, I can tag along with you for a bit if you want."

"Oh, like, walk me to class? Or, umm, _something like that...?"_ She mentally facepalmed herself.

"You got it right the first time." He smiled.

"Oh, okay then. Sure. That'd be nice."

Who was she kidding? That would be wonderful! She basically had someone to walk and talk with, and to do so with someone as cute as him, she considered herself lucky!

"Cool. Let's get outta' here then."

As they approached the doors, she saw how packed the main foyer was with students. Many of whom which were walking in disorganized groups, and some that were just standing around and talking amongst each other. Just based on how everyone was gathered so closely around each other, she could tell that this was a much different school than the previous ones she attended.

Everyone had friends here.

She felt happy to leave the library with someone who found her cool enough to hang around.

 ** _x_**

Lena's class was all the way at the western end of the school, in the corner, which was ways from Jeremy's locker, and even further away from her locker. As for his class, she wasn't even sure if he had one based on how lax he was about the time.

The halls were packed, and Lena would've had a tough time traversing towards her class if she wasn't walking with Jeremy. Since he was taller than the average student, he naturally commanded space for himself and whoever else was following.

Lena held onto the straps of her bag as she walked beside him, unsure of what to talk about. Fortunately, he began to speak up.

"What class you got?"

"Religion. And after that, I have gym class."

Jeremy's ears perked up as he turned towards her with a smile. "What?! No way!"

"What?" She figured, based from his response, she figured that he had religion class with her as well. But that wasn't the case... she had a class with him that was MUCH better than Religion.

"I have gym class with you!" He exclaimed.

Her mouth almost dropped to the floor as she gasped, "Oh. Wow, th-that's nice."

She was already imagining him in gym-attire. Hopefully, and most likely, more revealing attire than the normal t-shirt and shorts. And if Sturmore High's gym classes were anything like her previous schools, girls and boys would be sharing the same gym altogether, but in different sections, so that would mean that she would be able to see him perform in any physical activities... _nice_.

"Man, I hope we play baseball outside. Depending on who's the teacher, I can probably convince him to bring the class outside for the first day... Or, my class at least, cause gym classes are gonna be split between boys and girls. And I don't even talk to the chick teachers."

They continued walking. He asked another question.

"Hey, ain't gym an elective class for you?"

"Yeah. Otherwise if it weren't, then it'd still be an essential course."

"Oh so you already got your credit. What made you take it again?" He asked.

"The other subjects that were available didn't appeal to me. Working with computers aren't really my interest," she smiled, "I just like to play the games available on them. Strength training is a no-go for me, and coding seems much too complicated. That's just to name a few, so I just settled on Art and Gym for my electives."

They continued walking. Like she did earlier today, she found herself staring at the white wraps that were around his palm and his upper wrist. She wanted to ask what caused those wraps to be there in the first place, but she figured that it must've been a personal reason that only he could explain... but at the same time, she really wanted to know.

They rounded a corner into a hallway that was fortunately less packed than the earlier ones.

"Umm, Jeremy?"

"'Sup?"

"The wraps on your hand.. or- um, _around_ your hand. How.. why do you have it there?" She asked.

"These, you mean?" He slightly held his hand up and pointed at the wraps.

She nodded.

He continued walking, but at a slower pace. She followed suit.

"... nothin' much to say about it. Got into a fight- or should I say- **_fights_ , **and had to wrap my hands up before it got infected with dirt 'n other crap. That's all," he shrugged, "Sometimes, I leave it on just for the hell of it, but that's only if I feel like it."

Lena's suspicions were confirmed. He was a scrapper. He looked, acted, and talked like one... all she had to do now was see him in action.

"Goodness. That doesn't sound nice." She said.

"What?"

"Getting into fights," she answered, "I'd imagine your Mum must be getting panic attacks, knowing that her son is out fighting," she giggled, "I know I would."

He laughed in return, "Haha. I'll let you know that my Ma ain't ever had no panic attack."

She scoffed, "I find that hard to believe."

"She ain't ever had one cause I don't tell her about it. And no one snitches too. So when she asks me why I have straps on my hand, I just tell her it's for baseball."

"And she believes you?"

"I'm her son. 'Course she believes me," he gave off a guilty grin that had a tone of sarcasm behind it. Eventually, the grin wore off. He clicked his teeth, "... Oh- alright alright, maybe, like, _fifty percent of the time._ Other half, she goes to my brothers and asks them if I'm tellin' the truth or not. Lucky for me, my brothers ain't snitches, so I get away with fighting a lot."

"You ever lost one?"

He shook his head, "Hah! Never! Maybe only one time, but that's a story for another day."

They continued walking, until they finally rounded one more corner and reached her class.

"Huh. Seems like the class was already let in by the teacher." Lena commented, observing the inside of the classroom from the halls. She turned towards Jeremy. "Hey, umm. Thanks for walking me to class, Jeremy." She smiled, "I appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem." He smiled back.

"Heh. Y-yeah," she stared aimlessly at the floor as she twirled the tips of her hair, "Well, I- um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow-" she shook her head and laughed out at her stumble, "I-I mean, next period... _if you even plan on going_ , that is."

"Gym's my favourite class. Don't worry, I'm coming."

"Okay then... see you there." Before she could walk in her class, he held a fist in front of her. She looked at it then looked at him, "What...? What is-?"

"A prop." He said. "I prop up all my friends before I go somewhere... you do know what that is right?"

She's never 'propped' someone before, but she has seen people do it. It was just a casual fist bump between two people, a sign of respect or friendliness. But she's never done it herself. This was something entirely new to her.

"I do know what it is, but I've never done it before."

He squinted his eyes, "Really?" He smiled, "Alright, let me teach you then. It's really easy. First, you make a fist. Doesn't have to be aggressive or anything, just make one."

She held her binder in one arm in order to make a fist with her free hand.

"Then, you hold it up,"

She raised her fist neck-level.

"And then, you just bump mine with your's. It can be sloppy, but not too sloppy. Let's do it."

She moved her knuckles towards his and retracted away. She looked at him with a small smile, "Did I do it right?"

He nodded and smiled at her as he put his hand down, "Yep. You did good. Not bad for your first time," he tipped the front of his hat towards and began walking away from her, "See ya later, Lena." He waved goodbye to her as he walked away.

She returned his wave with a giddy smile and walked towards her class once she saw him turn the corner.

She couldn't believe how much of a coincidence it was to be in the library at the same time that he was in. She couldn't believe that he had the courage to casually guide her hand on that mouse. She couldn't believe that he spent his lunch just playing video games with her. She couldn't believe that he actually spent time to walk her to class. She couldn't believe how flustered she was by him already... she couldn't believe that he found her cool enough to be friends with.

There was a warmth on her cheeks as she stepped inside the class. She took a quick peek at the clock and saw that she was just on time for class. The bell rang as she took 2 steps inside. She looked for a seat and hoped that this class would pass by soon... she wanted to see more of him... more of Jeremy.

 **X**

 **Sorry for the wait. I wanted to update this fic for the longest time, but I got sidetracked a lot. Luckily, I've finally managed to finish the part out so that you guys could read it! Let me know if I did a good job on capturing their characters :)**

 **Also, I am still updating other stories. Just thought I'd let you guys know.**


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